WELLINGTON

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1304, 3 April 1883, Page 2

WELLINGTON

(FROM OUR OWK CORRESPONDENT,) “RED HERRINGS” ON THE STUMP* The Colonial Treasurer in his address at Christchurch on the 19th March, said : “If land was being held in large estates to th< detriment of tne country, the State should ut once determine what amount of land a man might hold with advantage to the publici •* and, although owners must do fairly compensated, the State must take the land.” Just so! But where iu the “cOHipefisa ; tion ”to come from ? Doesn’t it oome out Of tho general revenues of tlie Colony ? WhO contributes the greater portion of these ? It it the monied Jew? Certainly not. Now we w ill suppose in the meantime, that Messrs Whittaker, Atkinson & Co., who from thdf position can obtain any amount of money at very low interest, and from their high vantage. ground have already secured large estates in the Waikato and elsewhere, at almost nominal prices, and will be compelled after a time to (fhposc of them at a “ fair eompcnsa : tion.” Who becomes enriched? And who pays the Pi[>er? Why, of course, the “land grabbers ” are enriched, and poor Pill Garlick, the overburdened taxpayer “dubs Up’ for the music, Only a Whit taker and the At-kin-his-son and Co., profitting quick* and largely, whilst the hardy sons of the soil have to toil on year after year W’ith heavily increasing taxation which grinds them down and eventually coming out, after a long term of servitude and hardship, perhaps slightly bettered ; but in the majority of cases and to a greater certainty, entirely ruined Whilst the “grabbers” in a short course have secured their rich game. The Major continuing his speech “ Would say, however, that it was desirable to borrow* enough money to continue the public works system and complete the trunk lines of railway already began.” Of course it is desir* able, and w’ill it not also greatly increase the value of the estates of W. A. & Co., which they will be compelled to sell at a “ fair compensation ?” And will not poor Pill Garlick have to pay for the borrowing ? Our Government ought to be able from their vast experience to advance some other project, something better than that propounded; something particularly suited and applicable to this Colony now, instead of sucking the brains of men of other times, countries, and colonics. They are well paid for advising, and no doubt if they gave their minds thoroughly and earnestly to bettering the condition of the inhabitants of our Colony) they could well do so ; instead of that, they are too much bent upon, and eaten up with, advancing their own self-interests, that the general good of the Colony, if not entirely, is almost surely lost sight of, and becomes only a secondary consideration. The deferred system of payments for land held by the small holders is a dead letter ; rendered so by the already crushing taxes. The Government look to the people ! to advance something better !'. How can they, when they have not had the opportunities, experience, nor time given them to do so ? It is their representatives they look to, and the Government’s especial duty to perform that part instead of devoting their prime energies to serve their own private ends. If not, what is the use of electing members and having a constitutional Government. Free trade in land, what a farce ! when the cream Is conci having been usurped and swallowed up by a voracious lot of snarks.